Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1880.
The Ridge Farm post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ridge Farm’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,096 in 1980; 787 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ridge Farm’s Wikipedia page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1897Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ridge Farm.
The town of Ridge Farm was named after Abraham Smith's Ridge Farm, located on a ridge of land running east to west through Elwood Township. The post office was established on May 17, 1841.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ridge Farm, cut from the printed page as they were published.
farm until 1908, at which time the elder Mr. Jones died, leaving the land to his son. In 1910 Don A. Jones located on a farm of two hundred and twenty-two acres east of Ridge Farm, where he remained until 1917. He then sold his interests and came to Ridge Farm. He purchased the Bantas Garage in October, 1928, and at that time took over the agency for the Chevrolet automobile. He operates the largest garage in the city and does general repair work.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWilliam P. Holaday is born here
Born hereBonner Fellers is born here
In the archiveIllinois-Indiana, Ridge Farm quadrangle : 15-minute series
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ridge Farm. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ridge Farm.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ridge Farm’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Ridge Farm post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
2016
2007